Giordano (store)

Giordano International Limited (Giordano or the Company)is a Hong Kong-based leading international retailer of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories. Established in 1981, Giordano now employs over 8,100 staff with over 2,400 shops operating in more than 30 countries worldwide. Its current Chairman and CEO is Dr. Lau Kwok Kuen, Peter. The Company is one of Asia-Pacific's most successful retailers and its brands include "Giordano", "Giordano Junior", "Giordano Ladies", "BSX" and "Beau Monde". The essence of Giordano is to provide relevant, essential and timeless fashion for all and to develop apparel for everyone regardless of ethnicity, nationality or culture, truly illustrating its brand value of "World Without Strangers". Giordano has been listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1991 and trades under ticker symbol 709.HK.

History

Origins in Hong Kong: Think Local, Act Global

Giordano was founded in 1981 by Jimmy Lai, who drew inspiration from a host of successful international retail brands at the time that excelled in retailing and management, Giordano positioned itself as a retailer of simple and basic, yet high quality apparel, available in many colours and sold at reasonable prices. The company also successfully differentiated itself from competitors by focusing on providing superior customer service.

The Company now operates in a number of markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and Japan, as well as emerging markets, such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia. Jimmy Lai’s association with the company ceased entirely in 1996 and Dr. Lau Kwok Kuen, Peter is now the Company’s Chairman and CEO.

Brands

Giordano Men & Giordano Women

Launched in 1981, Giordano’s house brand has been the core brand of the Company from the outset, offering both men’s and women’s casual apparel. Its consistent focus on simplicity, quality and service has helped Giordano to create a signature look, featuring relaxed, easy-to-wear fashion pieces that can be readily mixed-and-matched to suit any occasion, mood or place. Its functional innovations such as wrinkle-free shirts and cool tees provide product differentiation and enhanced value for customers.

Giordano Ladies

Giordano Ladies caters to women with impeccable fashion taste. Launched in 1997, the brand is a contemporary interpretation of simple, clean, timeless and modern classic designs. Distinguished by its minimalist store design, superior product quality and intimate customer service, Giordano Ladies has raised the bar for higher-end fashion while creating a new shopping experience for loyal repeat customers.

Giordano Junior

Giordano Junior offers a wide assortment of colourful, chic and stylish children’s wear. These designs allow easy mixing-and-matching to give expression to a young person’s uniqueness and developing individuality. Safety, quality and comfort have been the core values that have guided Giordano Junior since its debut in 1998. All products undergo compulsory and stringent quality control checks to ensure that they meet the highest safety and quality standards.

BSX

First launched in 1999 as a value-oriented basics brand, Bluestar Exchange was re-branded as BSX in 2007. BSX is a youth-oriented fashion brand that expresses the values of courage and justice. The brand advocates the "courageous spirit", while the slogans "Victory or Nothing" and "Never Give Up" embodies the brand’s mood. Regular renewal of spokespersons and store image has successfully transformed BSX into a stylish and trendy youth brand.

Beau Monde

Beau Monde is one of Giordano’s newest brands, offering basic, comfortable everyday clothing at reasonable prices. Its proposition is "The Style of No Style". Simple shop designs create comfortable shopping environments. Launched in 2014, Beau Monde stores are primarily located in residential and shopping districts in China and Taiwan.

Marketing

Giordano adopts a mix of product and thematic marketing with varying life cycles as a way to build brand personality and communicate its brand values. These campaigns change frequently and include the use of celebrity endorsement, crossover programmes with partner organizations, exciting in-store activities and merchandise to keep the brand fresh and dynamic. Notable case studies of Giordano’s marketing campaigns are listed below.

Life is a Journey

Giordano invited 11 creative units from different Asian countries to participate in the "Asia Design Power x Giordano – Life is a journey" campaign. The 11 creative units hailed from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, including legendary Hong Kong designer Dr. Kan Tai-Keung SBS, renowned international fashion designer Dorian Ho, Prudence Mak, creative director of the Chocolate Rain brand, famed Hong Kong stylist Tina Liu, Taiwanese toy collector Jen Huang, the creative outfit of TO-FU Oyako Shin, Japanese toy designer Touma as well as Korean designer and creator Esther Kim. To further reinforce the campaign, Giordano also invited Wang Chien-yang, the Taiwanese artist/photographer highly praised by the media and the contemporary art scene, to act as creative director of the campaign photo shoot, which also featured Chrissie Chow as the campaign’s celebrity model.

Monsters University

Giordano teamed up with Disney - Pixar to celebrate the movie, "Monsters University" in 2013, releasing an exclusive line of apparel. A group of elite university athletes was invited to act as models for this campaign, as Giordano believes that these energetic athletes can positively influence young people.

Cheer-U-Up

Giordano kicked off the Spring/Summer 2009 Season with the launch of the "Cheer-U-Up" collection of crossover T-shirts produced in collaboration with Mr. Jim Chim Sui-man, the Hong Kong-based stage acor and comedian noted for his distinctive brand of humour, physical movement on stage and performance style. The project was motivated by a common desire between Mr. Jim and Giordano to use humour to raise people’s spirits and encourage them to remain positive in the face of the global financial tsunami at the time.

Lowe Alpine

Giordano has constantly strived to enhance the quality and appeal of its products, and in 2014 created much fanfare with its "Street2Summit" Fusion Collection of performance infused apparel, created in conjunction with global outdoor wear pioneers, Lowe Alpine. The philosophy behind the collaboration is to fuse Giordano’s pedigree in functional casual wear with Lowe Alpine’s heritage rooted in the outdoors, retaining the authenticity and performance associated with Lowe Alpine while injecting Giordano’s experience in design, cutting and fit.

Giordano invited three leading male celebrities from across the region to showcase the 2014 Fall/Winter collection; namely, Lu Yi from China, Ekin Cheng from Hong Kong and Tony Yeung from Taiwan. The 2015 Spring/Summer collection focused on content marketing, illustrating the inspirational stories of Sophie Cairns, the founder of the "Seven Volcanoes Project" who summited the tallest volcanoes on each continent in memory of her late father and raise awareness for cancer research, and champion mountain-biker, Brian Cook.

Social Responsibility

Giordano has long been committed to being a responsible corporate citizen, and formally adopted its Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") policy statement in January 2005. Since then, Giordano has continued to focus on "doing well by doing good" in order to make a positive impact in the communities where it carries on business, paying particular attention to stakeholder relations, community involvement and environmental protection. Giordano supports a myriad of charitable organizations and causes as well as doing much of its sourcing in local areas.

Giordano has carried out and participated in a number of CSR events and campaigns over the years. Particularly noteworthy is Project Hope; thus far, Giordano has funded the construction of 22 Giordano Good Hope Primary schools. In line with Giordano’s belief in a "World Without Strangers", Giordano has also actively supported various disaster relief activities, including donating clothes to victims of the 2005 Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia as well as the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, where Giordano donated HK$140,000 worth of clothes to CARE-Nepal.

While the company actively supports local communities, it also believes strongly in making the workplace environment as productive as possible for its 8,100 employees worldwide. Its Employee Self-Learning Programme fosters individual initiative and responsibility for development. Giordano organizes various activities, including seminars on healthy living, for its employees to help them maintain a healthy work-life balance. Various interest groups are also active in organizing different sports events and leisure activities which employees can participate at minimal or no cost. The company's social responsibility is not only limited to local communities and employees, but also the companies and corporations with which Giordano conducts its business.

Mainland China

Giordano entered the Mainland Chinese market in 1992. The first two stores were opened in Guangzhou in September 1992. Starting from the Pearl River Delta area, Giordano gradually expanded its retail network in China. It now operates over 945 stores in all major cities, with flagship stores in prime locations, including Nanjing Dong Lu in Shanghai and Lijiang in Yunnan.

Hong Kong

Giordano was founded in Hong Kong in 1981. The company now operates 73 shops in Hong Kong, including a 2-storey flagship store in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Taiwan

Giordano opened its first retail outlet in Taiwan in 1988. As of March 2015, Giordano operates 197 shops in Taiwan, including 3 flagship stores; namely, the Songjiang Store in Zhongshan, Taipei, the Wufu store in the XinXing District of Kaohsiung and the Central Square Store in Taichung North District.

South Korea

Established in 1994, Giordano is one of the leading apparel retailers in South Korea, offering an extensive collection of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories. Its retail network includes 208 shops from as far north as Seoul to Busan in the south. Giordano’s most prominent stores include those in the Lotte Department Stores in the Pyoungchon and Garosulgil districts, as well as its flagship stores Gangnam and Myeong-dong.

Middle-East

Giordano is one of the top 5 clothing retailers in the entire Arab region. The average size of Giordano stores in the Middle East are between 1000-2000 square feet. The brand also operates flagship stores of over 7,500 square feet in key locations such as Deira City Center and Dubai Mall in the UAE. Since its inception in 1993 and its first retail outlet at Bur Juman Centre, Dubai, Giordano Middle East now operates 240 stores in 23 countries across the region.

All regional operations for Giordano Middle-East are run out of its Dubai head office in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2015, Giordano was awarded the International Retailer of the Year accolade at the Global Retail and Leisure International ("RLI") Awards 2015. The award honours international retailers that have achieved outstanding performance over the course of the year, demonstrating store innovation, strong brand values, solid financial performance and a clear development strategy.

Countries in which Giordano operates^{(Non-exhaustive)}

Africa

• Zambia

Asia

• Lebanon, Armenia, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Mongolia

Oceania

• Australia

Eastern Europe

• Georgia

Middle East

• United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Yemen

Americas

• Aruba, Canada

Store Count

• China (945)
• Hong Kong (73)
• Macau (3)
• Taiwan (197)
• South Korea (208)
• Indonesia (204)
• Thailand (144)
• Australia (24)
• Malaysia (93)
• Singapore (49)
• Philippines (71)
• Myanmar (117)
• Japan (6)
• Brunei (2)
• Armenia (3)
• Canada (1)
• Aruba (3)
• India (49)
• Georgia (11)
• Lebanon (2)
• Saudi Arabia (95)
• Bahrain (5)
• Qatar (6)
• Yemen (2)
• Zambia (1)
• United Arab Emirates (44)
• Oman (3)
• Kuwait (9)
• Iran (10)
• Pakistan (4)
• Nepal (1)
• Sri Lanka (4)
• Cambodia (1)
• Vietnam (21)
• Mongolia (1)

External links

• Giordano World
• Giordano Hongkong Webshop
• Giordano Australia Webshop